Reviews of Toshiba Satellite S55-A5257 15.6-Inch Laptop (Ice Silver in Brushed

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $789.99
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Good laptop. Sounds is great. Fan can be loud at times as described but nothing you won't here from another laptop. Not a fan of the touchpad. It can be sensitive so change the settings, but also the right and left click are way at the edge of laptop. Great quality image. Runs great. Starts up super quick. Very efficient power saving. Quick sync of anything that you connect. Not saying you couldn't find better, but if you've been looking and you are hurting your head from the back and forth, this purchase is worth it. Good quality, nice look too.

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So I was kind of wary when I chose this laptop. I saw a lot of reviews that said, "Loud fan!" or "gets dirty easily" or "windows 8 is dumb" and things like that. Really, if it weren't for those reviews, this would probably have a 5-star rating. First of all, I don't hear the fan. Second, you can probably just wash your hands before using it. The touchpad: I personally like it. I don't see why people complained about the size. You can actually left-click anywhere on the pad by pushing down. To right-click you have to go into the right-bottom corner. (I also found out about a month later that you can right-click by tapping two fingers! Think of all the time you can save!) I'm not a big fan yet of Windows 8, but I downloaded a 3rd party "Start button," so now it's ok. But that's not a problem with the actual laptop. The sound on this thing is fantastic. It's fast too. The other complaints can pretty much be done away by customizing it a little bit. Final analysis: don't get scared away by user errors or off-topic reviews. This is a good computer.

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I'm using this laptop as an on-stage soft synth host (I'm a keyboard player). The criteria I needed to hit:

1) Powerful CPU to run multiple plug-ins

2) Backlit keyboard so I can see things in the dark

3) A battery in case the power goes out for some reason

4) Enough RAM (8GB), with the potential to go 16GB if I need it for some reason.

5) Enough disk (500GB+) that's fast enough for my purposes. This model has a 750GB drive.

6) A screen with enough pixels

7) USB 2 for connecting adapters, MIDI, etc.

8) Ability to boot from an external drive in case the one onboard stops working for some reason

9) All at a reasonable price point

Nice to have was a DVD drive, which this model has, so I can read CDs/DVDs or burn them.

What I didn't need -

1) Bluetooth

2) 1920x1080 display

3) Ultra light weight

4) Touch screen

5) SSD

6) Discrete graphics card

Basically, lots of horsepower and no luxuries, which this laptop delivers in spades. Note that this is a VERY different requirement than for a gamer, student, etc. I actually prefer bigger pixels with lower resolution so that I can see the software running more easily.

Quad core / hyperthreaded CPU is at the top end and equivalent to high end desktops of a year or so ago. So far the i7-4700MQ has been great.

BTW, another handy feature is the ability to hit F12 to put it in airplane mode DPC latency can cause audio pops and clicks, usually with WiFi drivers in Windows 8. F12 immediately turns off wireless, and DPC Monitor comes up as being suitable for streaming audio.

There were a few of the usual bloatware programs which I removed. I clone my HD periodically so I don't have to worry about incremental backups, etc.

Build quality is sufficient, although not up to the top-end standards, but I'm not planning to bang it around. I'm running Start8 so don't care about the new dashboard, and given onstage use the noise of the fans is irrelevant (and they're not noisy in my opinion). Even when running Prime95 to see how 100% CPU load copes it was in line with any other system I've used.

For the price I paid on Amazon this was a steal, and hopefully should give me at least several years of use.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite S55-A5257 15.6-Inch Laptop (Ice Silver in Brushed

This is a great laptop for a fair price. $600+ and you get a very fast computer that has a really nice feel to it. 8gb of ram make it run really fast, and you can always upgrade to 16 if you want it to run smoother.

Pros:

-Build quality, looks nice in the brushed aluminum

-Back-lit keyboard

-Very light and thin

-4th generation i7 quad-core processor,8gb ram (expandable)

-Decent battery life (5-7 hours depending on use)

-2 usb 3.0 ports (very fast)

-Good speakers

-Size is just perfect for transporting around be it school, work, etc

-600gb of hard drive space is more than enough space but you can always upgrade that as well

Cons:

-The mouse pad is not so great, takes time getting used to

-Screen is decent

-Keyboard is a dust magnet

-Fan is loud if you're in a room that is absolutey silent, otherwise it's not even noticeable

-Windows 8 can be annoying sometimes, especially for someone who is not computer savvy but it works.

All in all this computer is great, I've had it for over a month and no problems yet. If you get a lemon just make sure to contact Amazon. Their return policy is great. I also suggest buying a soft pouch to carry this in. The computer is very light and thin so an impact might damage it.

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This is a very nice laptop. VERY nice.

My second Toshiba Satellite (first was about 15 years ago or so). Tile keyboard (backlit) is nice and doesn't feel too much like I am pecking on Chicklets. Spankin' fast with the Core i7-4700MQ processor! 1366x768 display is the correct resolution for a 15.6" display [100 DPI]. Win 8 ... I won't go there, and what are you supposed to do, anyway? 8 GB RAM is plenty. Also has both VGA and HDMI outputs.

There is only so much that can be packed into a notebook. I wish that the USB 2 port had been placed on the right and the two USB 3.0 ports would have been on the left... that way, external drives with their larger cables wouldn't interfere with my mouse as much and the mouse receiver, if it were on the right side instead, would be barely noticeable. The front-side SD card reader is mounted where the front face curves to become the base of the case and is a tad tricky to push in/eject if you have clumsy fingers like mine. I need to lift the front up a half inch to make that operation easier. Perhaps I'll just get used to that.

This CPU has built in video of the earlier 4000 series graphics, not the new Iris graphics. Lots of reviews don't give it really high marks. My prior computer was an Intel quad core with a discrete nVidia GT-120 graphics card. I'm no gamer -the only 3D app that I use is Google Earth and this new cpu/gpu renders it 100% absolutely smoothly, so good enough for me.

I am running a second 1920x1200 monitor via VGA port and the video is fine for both.

The Harman/Kardon speakers sound great!

On the bottom there is a access lid for memory, but not for the hard drive. The whole bottom of the case must be removed to swap out the hard drive... that is no big deal once you determine that to get it off (after taking out the screws, of course) you have to gently pry at the hinges until it pops free. I have already upgraded this with a Samsung 840 EVO series 1TB SSD and WOW! Boot time dropped from 32-35 seconds to 5-8 seconds! Applications launch like a rocket! The only way to go!

I can't comment on battery life as I pretty much use this on a desk [internal battery, BTW]. That said, there is a nifty "airport mode" key that shuts off wireless. If you don't have a wireless connection, pressing that convenient button will extend your battery life a little more.

This laptop replaced my Intel Q8200 quad core 8GB/640GB desktop that (sniff, sniff) bit the dust. I wouldn't think of going back to a desktop now as fast as this notebook was before I upgraded the HD and especially now that I have.

Slightly different port placement would have given this very nice laptop 5 stars.

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Customer Ratings:

didnt expect the laptop to be so good ! its 15 inches which is not what i expected , i thought it would be smaller , but its great , i have no bad comments on it other than it comes with alot of software already pre-installed over 1000 pre installed files which is kinda alot ! but the memory was still good . i recommend !!!

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I love this laptop, I recieved it as a christmas gift. it was easy to activiate, it was easy to start up, the Norton Security was a good help to stop me from having any viruses on mine. It was a great gift, my 2 cousins recieved one for christmas as well, and they both love it.......Just a great laptop! Recommend it to anyone and everyone!

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My brother has this laptop. I was over and was using it and I was impressed by the speed, screen quality, and build quality. I will probably be picking one up soon

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all was perfect, the article is like the offered me in the amozon's web page, is a very good laptop

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I bought this laptop when amazon was really pushing it for about 365.00. The specs are decent if you only want it for just surfing the net or for a student.

What I really like about it is that the in built webcam has a light when its activated so it great when using skype. What I hate about it is that touch pad is rough and the right and left keys are too close together (fingers go further away from where it really is)

The price I see they are asking for it now (468.00) is definitely not worth it. If you want a basic computer this is for you.

Buy HP G60-440US 16-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I am a techno idiot, so if you want a review that goes in detail about gigs, jigs and migs, then this isn't it. If you want to know if this computer can get you online while on the road, listen to music, watch movies and just plain rock your world, then I am your man. I pulled this thing out of the box about 2 weeks ago and fired it up. I bought a router so I could use it anywhere at home. I have had no issues with it and the fact is it is much faster then my HP desktop. All preinstalled software works perfectly and the picture quality while watching video is perfect. The first night I had it I watched my DVD of Cool Hand Luke on it and was just amazed at the quality. Bottom line? I love it!

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I took a good look at this laptop when I was shopping around for a new computer for my mother-in-law, and while I ended up purchasing the HP DV6 there was a lot to like about the G60 line. The HP G60 (and G70) are aimed at the home user looking for a desktop size screen but otherwise want traditional notebook specs (good battery life, lighter weight, etc...). While not a true "desk-note" (it uses mobile cpus, most desk-notes use desktop class cpus) it will fill the "desk top" role for most users. The build quality is pretty good. Far above the basic "Compaq" line but not quite as nice as the DV line from HP.

What it is good at: Web browsing, light gaming (does well with anything other than 3D games), office apps (word, excel, power point, etc...) and basic media tasks (playing and creating MP3s, watching movies, editing short home movies).

What it is not good at: 3D gaming, editing large video files, or any heavy computational tasks.

Here is a quick break down of the specs:

Display: This 16" screen is a good bright display that works best indoors, but can be used outdoors except in direct sunlight. A good display is an HP trademark and this one lives up to that standard.

CPU: The Intel Pentium T4300 is a good dual core CPU for light home use. It is the newest version of the Pentium line and is based off the most advanced of the "Core2" processors. (Pentiums are just "Core" or "Core2" CPUS with less cache and slower clock speeds.) I'm a big fan of this CPU for people who mostly want to web browse it's got two cores so you can surf while the anti-virus does it's job so why pay more for a CPU you won't use? If you plan on doing any serious gaming this is not the CPU for you (though it's a lot better than older Pentiums based off the old "Core" cpus).

Memory: 3GB is plenty for light home use. Again plenty for web surfing and playing movies. Not enough for serious gaming.

Graphics: Comes with Intel's new 4500 integrated graphics. While this is a great improvement over previous Intel graphics parts it's still not going to run high-end 3D games at any decent resolution. Old games and non-3D games will be fine.

HDD: 320GB is far more than most light home users will use. I know few using more than 60GB. However anyone who plans on editing home movies will need more space than this (and more memory, and a faster cpu...).

Battery: 6 cell lithium ION. Pretty standard. Gives you about 2-3 hours of light use. If you order it custom from HP you can get an 8 cell. However if you are looking for good battery life you really don't want the G60 line. Look for something with a 14" display and at least an 8 cell battery.

Wireless: Most notebooks from high to low end are using the same few wireless chipsets. This one is covers a wide wireless spectrum including the newest "Wireless N".

Weight: 6.7lbs is a good weight for a screen this large. You will find them up to 8lbs. Again if you are looking for serious mobility you want a thin-and-light, but if you want something you can easily carry from room to room this should suit you.

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I received this notebook a couple days ago, and I'm currently in the process of cleaning all the "bloatware" off of it (though pretty much any computer maker is going to install this on systems they sell, this is really my main problem with HP products). It should run Vista fine after that (though I may end up "downgrading" to XP -I plan on doing IT work with this notebook and need specific software tools that I know run on XP -the 10-key is definitely a plus for entering IP addresses quickly for IT work). This notebook gets a 3.5 performance rating in Vista (the weakest component is the integrated video, but that is to be expected). One thing you don't really see in the pictures on Amazon is that the top of the shell is very shiny black, and will easily show fingerprints, and will quite likely be susceptible to scratches, so make sure you get a good case if you want to maintain its appearance. At the current pricing, this thing is a steal (especially when you factor in the free upgrade to Windows 7, coming out this fall).

Update 10/17/09: I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate (I wanted the Bitlocker drive encryption feature, so I will not be using the free upgrade of Windows 7 Home Premium HP will be sending me) last night without a hitch -I did not need to download any drivers from HP and the notebook successfully connected to the Internet after only having to enter the wireless network key. The notebook is much snappier with Windows 7 than with Vista. Still, an excellent value, even though the OS I just loaded onto it cost almost half as much as the notebook originally did.

Honest reviews on HP G60-440US 16-Inch Laptop

Wow! Really light computer. Overall, great computer and fantastic deal on Amazon. Came with battery already half charged. Has cleaning cloth, notepad, and contact numbers if any problems right when you open the box. Initially thought screen was a little small, but I wanted a full size keyboard because I use 10-key sometimes, so it was perfect.

It took 4 minutes to boot, took another 4 to go through HP software. HP tries to get you to allow them to track your use of the computer, which, fortunately, you can skip. Did not recognize my network right away and had to go through setup with more lousy, HP(network) software that did not work. I searched My Computer and Network to figure out where the network was and it took 2 seconds doing it my own way took me 20 minutes to figure this all out. Comes with Ebay on Desktop, Norton Trial, and Office trial, and more dumb HP software (which I promptly closed out).

Keyboard is a little slick to touch, but recognizes fine touch, it has a separate section to slide your finger down to make the page scroll up or down. Screen is bright, but sound is just ok (Altec speaker) and a little schrill (get better sound from my Altec surround sound desktop speakers. Keyboard/windows response is fast and crisp. Computer was really quiet and the fan did not start right away like my old computer. Actually, the computer did not get very hot at all after using until battery died.

Recognized CD right away, but was slow opening images. Took 7 minutes to copy 556 MB to harddrive from disc. After using a few days, I found the battery lasts about 3 hours. The 10-key is really convenient if you crunch numbers. The one bad thing is the wi-fi doesn't recognize my network automatically, I have to manually set it up every time this may be due to my other wi-fi on my desktop or other interference or the router I have (which is a few years old). I would recommend anyone to get the new chipsets that have a wireless N router built into the wi-fi chipset. I also got a USB hub to add more devices (comes with 3 USB ports); also does not take a CF card, only SD, MMC, XD and SMpro.

I haven't bought a new computer in several years, so I really shopped around and this is a really good computer so far and at a great price.

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I've had my HP G60-440US laptop for four months now. During those four months, the laptop's been out of order (non-functioning) three different times for an aggregate period of about five weeks. During the first month, the hard drive crashed, and I couldn't turn the computer on. Then the little chippie-thing that allows the computer to connect to my wireless modem broke down. Most recently, the dvd player died while, at the same time, the new wireless card went kaputt. Consequently, I've had to send my laptop away to the service department twice, and have had to reinstall some chip or other part so that the computer could pick up a wireless signal. The computer has been a complete lemon. My friends warned me about purchasing an HP product, and I didn't listen.

One of the worst parts about my HP experience has been the attitude of the customer service people. The technical guys in India were nice enough, but they kept me on the line for more than an hour before they agreed that I wasn't lying about my hard drive having crashed. My experience with the managers in the U.S. was much worse. My conversation with customer service notwithstanding all the scripted "I'm sorry to hear that, sirs" left me feeling absolutely powerless and with the feeling that, now that HP had my $500, they cared not a bit about my needs or satisfaction.

So, be warned this is not a good product. I wish I had listened to my friends and spent a little more cash for a better product instead of this toy laptop.

Reviews of Dell Inspiron i15R-2646MRB 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mars Black)

Customer Ratings:

I bought this during the Black Friday week sales so I got a really good price reduction on the machine. Even at it's current higher price it's still a pretty good deal. It features a core i5 processor, 6GB of RAM and a 640GB internal drive. I haven't had any problem running software/games including Civ 5 which runs quickly and smoothly. The wireless and Bluetooth operate well, though the machine seems reluctant to automatically reconnect to a network once it has entered sleep mode.

The laptop is sturdy and the screen is bright. The keyboard takes a little getting used to as the keys are a bit off-center and some keys that you will use a lot are half-sized (cursor keys, delete, etc.). That takes a little getting used to. The fan is quiet and keeps the laptop cool. It runs noticeably cooler than my previous Dell laptops and much cooler than the HP laptop we have.

It comes with 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium and I haven't had any issues with older programs not running. Adding printers is noticeably faster and easier than it was with Vista. Office 10 trial is installed and you can run "starter" for free if you don't want to buy it. That's a nice feature if all you are going to do is basic word processing/worksheets.

The negatives for this model are fairly minor. The number and placement of ports is unusual. There are only four USB ports and two are on the back and the other two near the back, one on each side. I'd rather see over/under dual ports on the side. The other problem is the power cord falls out a lot. As in all the time. Even minor shifts in your sitting position can jar it loose.

Overall it's a very nice machine.

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I got this for $785. It appears the price has gone up. It is a good computer, quite fast. I am hoping that it lasts as long as my previous Dell.

I have a few minor quibbles...none of which particularly bother me, but I can see other people not being satisfied as a result of them.

It is not as sturdy as I would like.

There is a lot of "bloatware" installed on the machine that really needs to be taken care of to achieve optimal results.

The faux metal surface where you put your hands to use the keyboard will get scratched by your watch. So if that bothers you, don't get this computer.

The battery life is not amazing. I am getting about 1.5 hours off battery.

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The real product name of this laptop, as shown in BIOS and in Windows System Information, is Dell N5010. For its price, this is a good laptop, but it can also piss you off if you are peculiar about things:

1. For a 15.6" screen, the resolution is low: 1366x768. Business laptops have standard 1400x900 for 14" screens. I've had one for years and that resolution was great for the screen size. The screen is glossy and will reflect light. Outdoors, it's almost impossible to see anything, unless you hunch over the screen to shade it. POOR vertical viewing angles. 20 degree off the perpendicular direction to the screen, colors begin to shift visibly: whiteout if you look at the screen from above, darkened if you look from a bit below.

2. The keyboard can be really annoying:

silly reassignment of Fn keys to perform laptop-specific functions (volume up/down, Wi-Fi on/off etc.) instead of doing those by pressing Fn+F#. Configurable from the BIOS though.

besides that, the F# keys are labeled a faint blue on black, and are barely visible in a well-lit room. The reflection of the screen on the glossy laptop finish near the hinge doesn't help. The visible labeling is for the laptop function keys (Wi-fi on/off, brightness up/down etc.). This shows how the laptop is aimed at those who don't know what F5 does.

odd placement of the PrintScreen key between Insert and Delete

narrow trackpad buttons, often annoying to hit with the thumb

the arrow keys are too thin, half the height of normal keys

after having used laptops without a numeric keypad for the past few years, the keypad is not only useless; it gets in the way. where I expect Backspace to be, there's now Keypad Minus.

there is no Break key (useful for Win+Break to get the Windows System properties, or Ctrl+Break in command line applications)

there is no context menu key (equivalent to right click on the focused control)

3. My unit had a problem with the fan, while other owners reported theirs worked fine. Maybe Dell has a quality control problem here. For no reason at all, my laptop's fan would ramp up and whir every 2-3 minutes for about 20 seconds, even if there is no spike in CPU load. This became really annoying in a quiet environment, such as a classroom or library. I had updated to the latest BIOS (A12), and the problem was still there. One possible way to "fix" this is to always have the CPU running one core at full speed, e.g. by running some CPU-intensive application like Folding@Home. This will keep the fan at a constant (albeit loud) speed.

So make sure these things don't bother you, or you'll hate the laptop. Try to get a feel for the keyboard and trackpad at a local store (Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Fry's etc.)

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron i15R-2646MRB 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mars Black)

overall this is a good value laptop esp considering 6 GB RAM/500 GB HDD. screen resolution is great; however battery life is only 2 hours even with dimming the screen. my other dell laptop with a 9 cell battery (albeit 14 inch screen) lasts 4 hours.

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I got this laptop to use while traveling and it does what I wanted it to do. Add to that, the graphics and you have a great deal here. I'm not a big PC gamer, but I decided to try a couple games and see how they would work on the laptop. All the games I've installed so far, have worked perfectly. I've got a couple other Dell laptops I use for everyday things and home entertainment, both cost more than this laptop. The 2 older Dell's I have have the 17" monitors and continue to work great, but it is nice to have the slightly smaller Dell to take on trips with me. I don't use it battery powered too often, but it does have a fairly short battery life. If battery life is your biggest concern, don't bother with a laptop, pick up a netbook. I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of this laptop, especially for the price paid to get it.

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Customer Ratings:

Even tho' I didn't purchase this notebook from Amazon (I got it from the HP refurbished list), thought I'd write a review. I really like this notebook... it does what I want. I was looking for a notebook in the 12 14 inch screen display range. I've had larger displays and with the mobility I need, they tend to be too bulky for travel. Had looked at netbooks and my daughter had one she liked, but I wanted something with a bit more processing power and larger display.

I had looked at various Acer, Asus, and Toshiba models. The reviews on this site rated these models as good and seriously considered them, but anyone who had to deal with the tech support did not have good comments. I work for a business that is an HP reseller and felt that if I had trouble with this laptop, I could work through the tech support much easier. I never think of HP notebooks as being on the cutting edge of "cool" laptops, but they are solid and do what I want. I run Office, web browsing, web site upkeep, Photoshop elements, and VMware workstation.

The first thing I did was put Windows 7 on it and it runs great. Battery life is average. Nothing great, but I generally plug in the notebook when using it. It feels solid when I pick it up and is not a fingerprint magnet. Sound quality is average certainly better than some of the Toshiba models. The touch LED button to turn sound on and off doesn't work well I usually have to turn it off from the system tray. Not a big deal, but it is a bit irritating. The LED for the wireless works fine. And finally, on my notebook, the case is a burnished red color which is kind of fun.

I've only had it a couple weeks, so will update if I have problems.

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HP is agood product,,,but with working in this laptop,i feel the display has NOT good support ,it moves when u work .

Dell Latitude 15.4" Core 2 Duo 160GB Notebook Reviews

Customer Ratings:

Good value, meets my needs for on-the-go computing.

Comfortable keyboard. High function keyboard.

Wi-fi built in. Don't use the nipple.

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Computer fine; Windows 7 stinks. Way way too prohibitive. Be on the look-out when you order refurbs which operating system and version is provided. I couldn't understand before why it mattered but trust me, it matters.

Review of ASUS NX90JQ-B2 18.4-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Silver

Customer Ratings:

First, it is huge. Which is good, I think. The screen is incredibly crisp. A bit too reflective, but excellent for indoors use. The HDD led and the WiFi led are a bit too bright for me, so I placed color tape on them, now they don't bother me as much. Finding a laptop backpack was a pain for this monster, and I ordered the Toshiba backpack from Amazon, which was the largest backpack I could find, but it just barely fit in. It would have been a better idea to ship this laptop with a backpack or a bag. The sound of the speakers is great when typical laptop sound is considered, but it is not the best I have ever listened to. Keyboard is nice and firm, does not bounce. Two touchpads on the two sides are a nice touch, especially not having a touchpad right in the middle of the laptop is more comfortable than I thought. It is sort of like reaching out for the mouse. In sum, the advantages are:

best bang for the buck although not cheap,

the looks

the screen is wonderfully sharp,

the speakers are much better than any other laptop I have ever seen,

the i7 is wonderful,

the graphics card is one of the best you can get in a laptop,

the power this laptop packs is fantastic,

runs amazingly cool,

the high speed usb ports,

the touchpads

The disadvantages are

preinstalled junk software that is not needed at all,

bluetooth problems that were corrected simply by first upgrading and then uninstalling the wireless/bluetooth Widcomm software (let the operating system do it!)

DO NOT attempt to uninstall the WiFi/bluetooth software without upgrading it first, or you may lose all or part of your programs! (just google for "Widcomm uninstall wipes" and see for yourself).

I wish the speakers were removable, so that the laptop could be easier to pack.

screen should have been a bit more glossy.

I am not sure if I can unscrew the cover at the bottom of the laptop and reach for a HDD or install more ram, because I can't see any screws under the laptop!

Well, my 2 cents on NX90...

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I ordered for this laptop on the labor day weekend online Sale. I had it for 1313.00 on buy.com and that was the cheapest anyone could ever have had as I did an extensive research in buying an i7 processor laptop. This laptop is Solid and very Nice. Powerful Led Screen and the speakers really have very good and crisp sound quality as well as loud for a laptop. its really a magnificent piece of Art work due to the Silver aluminium finish... it has a Metallic Look and the key board is very comfortable and smooth as I am typing this review with it Now. I just ordered a memory upgrade from corsair on Amazon recently and am looking forward to have a feel of this i7 processor at 12gb Rams of system Memory on windows 7. I think it will be super fast cos its already a fast machine...

One more thing I love about this computer is that its very Silent and u wouldn't think u have it on if not for the screen and the lights on it. its so far the best computer i have experienced now and I have been a PC User for over 15 years... I have had and still have a control Room of self built Networked Powerful desktop computers that i use for other purposes So i really have a lots of experience with Windows PC's starting from Windows 95----to Windows 7 ultimate and Fredora Core as Well as SUSE Linux. this Laptop is worth the price its going for cos its fully Loaded and so beautiful that my Wife asked me what is that when I had it Closed and lying on the front seat of my car lol. And its also already prepared for international Use with regarding the Charger, at first I said to myself, this charging Unit looks kinda bulky and big, until I realized that it takes Electrical Voltage starting from 100v(America) to 224(international) without any Step down adapters or anything, just plug it in any country... NICE.

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The Asus NX90 is an amazing computer. It's very large and at 9.7 pounds isn't very portable,however as a desktop replacement it really works. The screen clarity is great,and the sound out of the Bang & Olufsen speakers is unreal. Runs very quiet and has a very nice feeling keyboard. The touchpads work really well ones you get used to it.Overall this computer is a great value,with top of the line specs, metal casing and very premium feel.The mirror finish looks really cool.

Honest reviews on ASUS NX90JQ-B2 18.4-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Silver

I have laptops all the way up from an Acer to an Alienware and I call this one the Boss. In my opinion, I could easily switch that statement to "all the way up from an alienware to an Acer Iconia" and still be right. (I had a very bad experienc with Alienware, but never again) I think the biggest problem with this laptop is that no photos nor videos can do it justice. The look and feel of this laptop is un-real. I wish it had just a bit more memory, not that I would use it on this computer, but just to say that I had more. I also wish it had a better video card, and again, not that I would use it. I purchased this laptop for veiwing movies so it handle all needs. If you can find one I say buy now!

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The laptop was delivered quickly. The item was double boxed, but the ASUS shipping box had lots of writing on it, and did not look good. The ASUS black box and the computer was sealed and brand new. The computer worked fine, although you need to update the wireless switch on the ASUS site to get wireless networking to work. The seller was great and I would recommend him for your computer needs. This was a real good deal on this model with a good price and free shipping since it was the Amazon offer.

Discount Sony VAIO VPC-EL13FX/B Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:

I have had this laptop for a couple of years now good product overall but some serious design issues that need to be changed. Here's my list of pros/cons:

PROS:

* fast, great graphics, low glare screen

* love the number pad so much more convenient than typing across the top

* overall good, steady, reliable performance.

CONS: I have a quite a few cons here, which I'll describe below.

* weight this thing is a brick at least 7-8 lbs with cord and other accessories

* USB ports inconveniently placed bottom right, near where the mouse would be (as a right-handed mouser), so my mouse keeps bumping the wires of the accessories plugged into it. The USB ports would have been better either in the top left area (and the power cord in the back) or a mix of distribution in the back and the left, where they're out of the way)

* touch pad too big every time the edges of my thumbs touch it when I'm typing it moves the cursor somewhere else in the document and starts typing in the wrong place. This drives me crazy if they reduced the diameter of the touchpad by about 0.75" I wouldn't have this problem. Of course I can see another segment of the consumer base complaining that it would be too small then.

* Monitor port again this should have been in the back of the unit on the left right smack in the middle and I can't place anything near the laptop (like a book stand, e.g.)

* built-in speakers not the best quality, for a Sony the sound was a little noisier (static) than I expected.

Overall the poor placement of the ports end up creating a much larger footprint for the laptop than I had initially expected (at least 8" more); that's the one design issue that ranks this a 3-star product instead of anything higher.

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This is a great computer... I have had no problems with it. Webcam is a little grainy for this day and age is my only complaint. It's well made, stylish, good video quality, good battery life, good speed, good build with a nice keyboard and numpad... four USB ports are awesome. Very bright compared to my wife's. Plays most games that I need, nothing fancy but plays most of em. The onboard software is not bad (though not necessary) but it's not so bogged down with it that it will annoy you.

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we bought 2 of these for our kids in college and they proved to be fast enough and we get compliments and thanks from the kids when they are home from school. screens are really nice to watch movies with.

Honest reviews on Sony VAIO VPC-EL13FX/B Laptop (Black)

1. This retailer is one of those web guys which always made you worried about buying things from the net.

2. He will sell you a "rebufrished" product as brand new and then will not take any responsibility.

3. I had this Laptop written pre-owned all over it but I was too naive to understand it. Sorry !! buddy your bad luck--is all the website said.

4. When i complained (in writing & over the phone), i got a flat NO.

So my advice, avios this retailer at all costs.

Discount Satellite 17.3" Notebook - AMD A-Series A8-4500M 1.90 GHz

Customer Ratings:

I purchased a 17.3 inch HP laptop and it was defective so I returned it.

I then ordered this Toshiba, making it the 5th Toshiba I have owned.

I have tried Lenovo, HP and Dell but I always end up using a Toshiba long term as the other brands always seemed to disappoint me.

Before I took the HP back, it was killing my wireless router, making me reboot it at least twice a day.

I called HP and they claimed it was a Microsoft 8 problem and I had my doubts about that.

I went to school to learn how to build and repair computers and know a bit about how they should work.

I also went to school to get my Microsoft Network Administrator certification.

Since I have been using this machine (now around 3 weeks), the router has never stopped so I believe the problem was with the HP machine, not Windows 8.

I don't know if it is me or that Toshiba makes the best laptops on the market, but Toshiba has always worked best for me.

Two of my three adult children use Toshiba laptops and the other brand was purshased because of a special deal.

I build and own several websites and FadedFootsteps is one of them if you wish, feel free to contact me through that website if you want to talk about laptops or find a a Civil War Veteran in your family.

I need lots of processing power to edit images and perform multiple tasks and this Toshiba has all I need to do a good job and not wait for processes to finish.

It is my understanding that laptop prices may be going to go up this fall 2013 as people move to "pad" devices and less laptops are built, so now is the time to buy a laptop if you have been on the fence about buying one.

The quad core processor is smooth and fast, the Toshiba laptop came with 6gigs of ram and I upgraded to 16gigs (purchased from Amazon) Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory (CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10)making this an amazing machine.

I have it loaded with Office 2013 and several software editing packages and loads and loads of pictures and files and it is running great.

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Reviews of Toshiba Portege R705-P25 13.3-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Finish in Blue)

Customer Ratings:

After a long research I chose Toshiba Portege R705-P25 laptop as my final answer for a very light but powerful home unit. Being spoiled at work with a much more expensive and sturdy military spec 12' HP Elitebook 2540p with Core i7, I wanted something that wouldn't break my home bank, equally light and of a similar power, with a bit bigger screen, so I decided to look for a 13.3' screen size. At first I thought that this laptop was expensive, but when I compared it to other units of similar size and features, this was actually very attractively priced (bought on special at a local M&B store for $800 plus tax). What really made me go back to the store and buy it after reviewing all the alternatives is the fact that I had it in my hands and felt its weight, or lack thereof. It is so light that it reminds me of fake laptops they use at furniture stores. After several weeks I could tell why this one won CNET's Editor's Choice. After several months everything it is mostly great except that I'm still not too fond of its keyboard.

This laptop is lighter and much faster than Macbook Air and faster and much lighter than the 13.3' Macbook Pro, not to mention double the amount of RAM and hard drive capacity. At 3.2 lbs, this is the second lightest 13.3' laptop, still with full blown 32 nanometers Intel Arrandale Core i3 CPU with built in graphics and 5-8 hrs of battery life... It has similar capacity and speed but longer battery life than the barely lighter 3 lbs Sony VAIO of same size, but you will pay more than double for the Sony. The spanking new Intel Wireless Display technology is also a good perk, but be aware that you need the receiver on the other end (I believe you can get Netgear's device for under $100) or one of the brand new and expensive TVs that have this feature built in.

Many other laptops have an incomplete 802.11 b/g/n wireless network card, thus lacking the capability to connect to a 5 GHz WiFi a/n access point. This one has a fully compliant 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi NIC and this is important to me because of the interference I'm getting from hundreds of access points in our building (I see over 40 from my condo), so I'm able to happily utilize the 5 GHz a/n radio on my dual band WiFi router, while everybody else is struggling with great interference on the few available 2.4 GHz b/g/n channels.

Long battery life is somehow achieved without using the slower ultra-low voltage CPU. The sticker at the store claims eight hours. I say maybe you'll get that when you're not doing anything processor-intensive and while using Toshiba's Eco power setting, which slows down the system a bit, but even on the normal balanced power settings and bright screen we still get five-ish hours, depending on the activity. Charging the battery while the system is working seems to take longer than on my 12' HP Elitebook 2540p work laptop. I can't figure out why, because this machine has the equal number of battery cells (6) and equally powerful 65W AC supply. Did Toshiba achieve a better battery capacity at same number of cells and weight and is that why this unit's battery lasts longer than on most similar laptops of other manufacturers? Still, the 12' HP 2540p has similar battery life, but charges much quicker (smaller screen?).

About Core i3 vs Core i5 and i7 humans can barely notice a 20% performance improvement on a computer. Core i5 and i7 CPUs do provide a bit higher speed particularly at turbo boost, but turbo works ONLY when another core is not busy, and at that time the single core is working at only up to 25% faster. I decided to stay at Core i3 and not be taxed the significant amount for the marginal benefit on a home laptop. According to my experience throughout the years, about 10% under the performance mountain top lies the treasure cave with best bargain systems that are still powerful enough to keep you zipping through the next 3-5 years without any disadvantage or impairment. Of course, if you're a gamer, you may be willing to go for 100% or so higher price for that 10-25% increase in speed, but that definitely doesn't apply to a home laptop. However, if you really want to see the biggest return on upgrade investment, instead of upgrading to i5 or i7 CPU eliminate the biggest bottleneck and upgrade the hard disk to a solid state HDD. That alone is the biggest performance boost you can give to your laptop and I might do the same soon because I've seen SSD drives do miracles.

Although very light and thin, this thing still has a DVD burner. Blu-ray would be a great plus, but you benefit from Blu-ray movies when watching them on a 1080p big screen (40' or more) HDTV, which usually already has a dedicated Blu-ray player or PS3 connected to it. This 13.3' screen, although at 720p HD, is too small to experience the full benefit of the Blu-ray movies. If you really want the high definition movies and the higher data capacity of the BD technology, this may be a deal breaker and you may go with one of the 14' Samsungs or lower end Sonys at a similar price. I wonder if an upgrade to Blu-ray could be purchased from Toshiba, but considering their loss during the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD, I understand their lag with this feature.

Pros:

Very light, but still sturdy with a robust hinge

Much faster than most other ultraportables of this size and weight

Plethora of ports (HDMI/eSata/3 USB/Multi-format card reader), DVD/CD writer

Windows Home Premium 64 bit w/ 4 GB RAM, upgradeable to 8

Brushed metal magnesium alloy chassis with good cooling

It gets totally cool if you put it to sleep for 1-2 minutes, even after hours of work

Intel WiDi

One USB port (the one combined with eSATA) provides power even when the laptop is shut off

Cons:

After two months I'm still not entirely used to this keyboard. It's not as good as on HP business laptops or Thinkpads.

No keyboard backlight or LED

Instead of being in the center, the touchpad is slightly moved to the left. This is causing occasional sudden and unintentional moves of my cursor to a different position whenever my palm touches the touchpad.

Some reviewers have complained about the fan noise under normal load I can only hear it at night when it's absolutely calm and quiet, but it's not loud enough to bother me. If you're in your 20s the high pitch sound coming from the fan may bother you, but at 45 I can barely hear it as it's virtually ultrasound. But now about work under heavy loads:

I noticed recently that the system can get significantly louder and warmer (not lap-comfortable without a lapdesk) when the CPU/GPU is heavily taxed as in Google Earth flight simulator mode with 3D landscapes and objects enabled and set to max. This also happens when I'm viewing HD Flash video on it.

All in all, this is the winner. Not perfect, but close to it, considering its cost, weight, size, power and features. It can get loud and warm when under heavy load, but most of the time it stays quiet and cool. Recently I've seen this unit priced at about $1,100 which is $300 more than what I paid for it. At that price I'd think twice, particularly when similar model with faster Core i5 CPU (model r705-p41) can be bought for way under $1,000, so first check the faster model's price at Toshiba Portégé R705-P41 TruBrite LED 13.3-Inch Laptop (Metal/Blue). If you can get either one for about $800 it's a no brainer. Go for it.

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I bought this computer from best buy because it had a better price. Anyhow, i researched a lot before buying this pc. I finally decided over the fan critics (the fan actually can be heard, but is not as noisy as the people says)considering that it is actually 3lbs!!!!!! it's very light!!!! has the best performance for a pc of this capacity. I totally recommend it!

Best Deals for Toshiba Portege R705-P25 13.3-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Finish in Blue)

This computer is everything you could ask for in a laptop: Fast, extremely light weight, plenty of RAM, large HDD, relatively small size (13.3). I have been very happy with overall performance.

However, two issues are worth noting on the negative side: Fan noise and durability.

The fan noise has been noted on many sites. Some reviewers are not bothered by it, some are. I am one of the people that is bothered by it. It's not terribly loud, but it is a unique frequency that stands out from other ambient noises. After hearing it the first time, my brain locked on to it and it's all I hear when the machine is operating in my home office. I have another computer humming away with normal fan noise (air flow through an opening), and other low level noises, but I hear this over everything. It's tolerable but not desirable.

Durability This one is less tolerable and I am currently working with Toshiba to repair under warranty (with no luck so far). The primary attractive feature of this computer for us was the light weight. No other laptop at the time ( Aug/10) had the same functionality and light weight with a built in DVD drive. Unfortunately, the tradeoff for weight appears to be strength of materials and durability. This laptop is cherished by the owner and carried in a very protective laptop bag at all times when not in use. When in use, it is cleaned with a soft cloth daily and dust and debris blown out of the keyboard and all openings by compressed air at least once a week. The computer is pampered basically. I mention this as background for the issue of durability I am/we are experiencing which is a cracked bezel around the screen and a loose hinge cover on the left side. The hinge cover is not much of an issue, but being loose they do add a feeling and appearance of poor workmanship. The main issue is the bezel around the screen. The laptop was never dropped, bumped, jarred, or otherwise abused in any way whatsoever. However, a thin horizontal crack developed in the bezel on both the left and right side of the screen at exactly the same level top to bottom, just below the rubber bumpers on the inside of the lid/cover. Within a few days of noticing the crack, lifting the screen to use the computer found a small piece of the bezel material to the left of the keyboard. The left side bezel had shed a small piece of material that included the rubber bumper from the area immediately above the original crack. The material is extremely thin and brittle and leads me to believe the rest of it may soon follow and deteriorate in time. There are no marks on the outer lid anywhere that would indicate even a slight impact on either side. If you look at the construction of the screen inner and outer covers, you will see the inner could not be damaged in this manner (by impact) without damage to the outer. It appears a combination of the rubber bumper position and screen/lid flex, has caused stress fractures of the inner bezel on both sides. The bezel is very thin and apparently (from the piece missing on the left side) also very brittle. We have never had any issues with workmanship on any HP we have owned (3 different laptops, all HP). This is our first Toshiba, and so far, Toshiba has been less than sympathetic and even ....less than polite on the telephone when discussing the issue. I'll keep trying though because I honestly believe (I know) this is an inherent flaw with the design/materials of this laptop. I'll give Toshiba customer service the benefit of the doubt and assume I just encountered an employee in a bad mood.

Summary: The fan makes a unique whine but it's tolerable by most people. It appears durability has been sacrificed for weight. I would highly recommend any additional warranty coverage that includes damage. This will let you avoid the argument I am currently having with Toshiba regarding the seemingly spontaneous degradation of the screen bezel or any other issues that may appear. However this will dramatically increase the overall cost of ownership. Alternatively, you could always use it as a desktop to avoid stressing it....

I assume this issue would apply to the entire light weight line.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Portege R705-P25 13.3-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Finish in Blue)

I am not a highly technical person but I like my computer to do certain things well. It has to be light. This one at 3.2 lbs is light. It has the new Intel i3 chip, strong enough for me. 500 GB harddrive is sufficient, 4 GB memory is enough. It has a good camera, decent sound system. If one listens with ear pieces, it sounds just fine. Battery life is around 5 hours (it ran for 8 1/2 hours the first day I turned it on). Some people complain about the keyboard but I like it a lot. It has everything I need at large enough size so my fingers don't mistype. I purchased it around $850 and have seen it advertised at $799, a fair price to me. I use the camera with Skype and it works well.

I don't have anything negative to tell you about this laptop. It is my first Toshiba and frankly I like it more than the several HPs I owned before. The only minor minus will be that it gets quite hot but all other laptops do that also. Placing it elevated or on a laptop table helps to dissipate the heat.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Portege R705-P25 13.3-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Finish in Blue)

This is my first laptop, and I couldn't be happier with it. I bought it because it has Intel's Wireless Display, which allows me to sit in my recliner and watch what I'm doing on TV with the Netgear Push2TV adapter. Super cool, and it works! But even without that, this is just a great laptop...lightweight, quiet and fast. I'm a long-time desktop user, so the keyboard takes some getting used to, but after a few weeks I am totally comfortable with it. I got mine from Best Buy for $749, so don't pay more than that for it. And believe me, the Wireless Display is a great feature. I put the laptop on my kitchen table, sit in my recliner 6 feet away with a wireless mouse, and move the mouse around on the arm of my chair to watch it on TV. I watch streamed football games, TV shows, streamed movies, YouTube videos, instructional videos...all from the comfort of my recliner on my 52" TV. Video quality is very good. I will say that the advertised 8-hour battery life is extreme; it's more like 4 or 5. But overall, I am very happy with this purchase and would do it again in a heartbeat. If you're on the fence, go for it...you'll love this laptop!

Best ASUS G75VW-DS73-3D 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Deals

Customer Ratings:

Pro: A cheaper high end gaming laptop that's comparable to Alienware. It has 3d function making your gaming experience much more in depth. Screen is sharp and will not glare. Keyboard is crisp with a metallic gun finish. Blue-ray player is always a nice addition along with the back lit key for working in the dark. Internal memory and hard drive is easy accessible for upgrade. 1.5 Tb harddrive is massive.

Con: Some bugs with the sound system where the subwoofer doesn't turn off until the lowest decibel. The resting pad is changed into a foamy texture instead of the soft rubber texture from G74x. This version comes with only 12 Gb instead of 16 Gb, but you have an easy access slot for expand. There are 2 hard drives but they are both partitioned giving you 4 smaller hard drives, not sure why they did that. 3D function is great but it turns down the screen resolution when in use and makes your backlit keyboard into a strobe light. Kinda wish they had one of the hard drive for loading OS as SSD.

Conclusion: This is a great machine, you will like it if you can afford it. The 3D function is the key here, so if you don't really care for that, go with the G75vw-DS72. It is a faster computer for $100 less.

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I've been using this laptop for almost 2 months (Bought in Aug 2012). So far it's been pretty solid. Everything works out of the box no crashes so far.

I bought this from Amazon. The box included the following:

1. Laptop

2. Laptop Bag

3. 1 pair of Nvidia 3D vision glasses (3D vision emitter is built into the laptop). Glasses comes with a soft material pouch to store it in and keep it from getting dust. You may need a hard case to protect it if you want to travel with it in your bag!

4. Manuals and driver CD

5. Soft cloth to wipe laptop screen. 3D glasses also came with a cloth to keep it clean.

6. Power adaptor As other people have mentioned this is pretty big. It also gets hot so be sure to place it in a safe spot where you won't touch it and keep it away from surfaces that might be damaged by heat.

7. Gaming mouse

As mentioned by others, there are 2x 750 GB hard drives running at 7200 RPM. There are 4 partitions across these 2 hard drives. I was considering swapping out one of the hard drives with an SSD drive for booting and games but after using the laptop for the past 2 months I found that there doesn't seem to be any noticeable hard drive lag. I mostly play "The Lord of the Rings Online" and haven't experienced hard drive lag. My home PC definitely benefitted from an SSD upgrade but I'd say this laptop has performance comparable to my PC even with just the 7200 RPM hard drives in it.

Others may get more mileage with an SSD upgrade depending on the games being played etc. For me, I'll hold off on an SSD upgrade since the laptop seems to be pretty fast as is!

The laptop comes with 1 month of McAfee Internet Security (subscription automatically activated on first boot). After this expired I uninstalled it and I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials (free). You have the option to purchase an extension to the McAfee Internet Security subscription if you wish.

Also of note:

Don't forget to register your laptop online to ensure your warranty is put into effect! There's a card in the box with instructions to follow. I believe the laptop must be registered within a month of purchase I don't recall the exact time frame at the moment.

3D:

I tested this with Mafia 2. The 3D experience was comparable to my home PC which is hooked up to a 40" Samsung UN40C7000 3D TV. The PC has an Nvidia GTX470 video card and the TV has its own 3D glasses (no 3D vision as with the laptop). Mafia 2 on my PC and on the laptop is comparable. The 3D effect is more enjoyable on a large screen but there's no issue with the 3D on the laptop. Also, "The Lord of the Rings Online" came up in 3D at first launch without needing to be configured first. The 3D effect in this game is pretty impressive. I prefer to play it in 2D though since 3D is a little uncomfortable for long gaming periods. It's nice to switch to 3D in between to sight see. I also watched Tron 3D blue ray to test out the blu ray drive and 3D movies. This was good and confirmed that you can watch 3D movies with the included software.

Overall great laptop. Good performance, met all my expectations and runs my favourite game without issue.

Best Deals for ASUS G75VW-DS73-3D 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

So far, I've enjoyed my new RoG laptop to the fullest. It has a great aesthetic, and doesn't skimp on performance. The 1 Year Accidental Damage coverage is amazing as always. The system comes with a pre-installed gadget that lets you switch from "high performance" to "battery saving", essentially throttling the proccesor and GPU to extend off-cable life. The stereoscopic 3D on this model is quite good, though it wasn't my main reason for the purchase. There are a few downsides, but nothing too terrible. Like most gaming laptops, it is very large and heavy, has low battery life (about 2 1/2 hours), and gets hot quickly (ventilation is excellent, however, and I haven't noticed any performance issues related to heat). The keyboard has a nice feel to it, but occasionally will not register a button press (I think this is a result of not pressing hard enough). The partitioned hard drive is a bit odd (I found that using one for storage, one for Steam, and one for all other games worked well). The system comes with the typical bloatware, easy to remove. Overall, I am pleased with my purchase.

Honest reviews on ASUS G75VW-DS73-3D 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Updated November 2012.

I cannot recommend the G75VW-DS73-3D which is a pity as it's a nice looking machine when its working. In fairness to Asus after months of haggling they sent me a replacement G75 at their expense. But it has the exact same hangs freezes and system lockups! Is this coincidence? A bad batch perhaps? I don't know, so I'll leave it to the prospective buyer to decide.... Nvidia Driver updates do not fix the problem believe me I've tried, and Asus VIP support is the absolute worst!

If you want to know what problems you might face with this laptop read this letter below to Asus that I sent after test driving a second G75 for a month. Incidentally, a common fault is that both G75's also had wrongly configured Atheros Ethernet slow upload speeds, making me think additional patch(s) weren't run at the time of the build. Either that or its an outright bad batch of G75's with bad 670m GPU's. Either way Asus have no solution. I will probably sell mine 2nd hand and buy a Samsung because I looked at the Samsung Series 7 and regret not buying it, as the Nvidia 675 appears more stable.

If anyone has any questions about the G75 I can answer them in the comments section. For instance is the 3D worth it? In my view: NO! Playing for hours will almost certainly give you headaches as the 3D is not as comfortable as watching a 3D movie at the cinema. Basically the active shutter glasses approach causes strain on the eyes. Moreover the 3D means every game is darker, and even with brightness turned up within the game and in the power options, the clarity is not as good.

Dear Asus,

You misunderstand the problem. Please read carefully! I'm certain the

system freezes are solely due to the buggy 670m GPU. How do I know

this? Because the system can occasionally recover from a pending

crash. When it can, it logs this message :-

"Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."

Most other times it fails to recover, and the system hangs which then

requires a hard reboot. Either way the symptoms are always the same!

But I'm sure you know this already from internal testing?! Or are you

saying that both of my G75's are part of a rare bad batch? I have a

feeling that the Samsung Series 7 with the 675 is more stable and

that's why there are less complaints about it.

To directly address your question though. I choose to rebuild the new

G75 from scratch. The system image / Windows Easy Transfer options

weren't that useful anyway. But so far on the new G75, I've only

installed the basic programs. So I've held off installing lots of

games and the game design software that I use, such as Unity 3D, UDK

and Blender etc.

Also note, the crashes mostly happen on the Desktop when merely using

Explorer, or Firefox with plug-ins / JavaScript disabled. Or running

IE with basic plug-ins enabled or just using MS Office. Please note that

following on from Asus-ROG postings on G75 hangs, the new G75 has disabled :-

A. all anti-virus software (uninstalled),

B. all unneeded Services...

C. all Scheduled Tasks...

D. all registry RUN commands & updaters etc.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS G75VW-DS73-3D 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

The device is absolutely mind blowing, from performance to speed and economy I'd give this beast of a machine a perfect 10. However I am extremely disappointed with this pixel width line from top to bottom almost dead center of the screen that consist of lime green stuck pixels. Nothing seems to fix it and I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to get an RMA for this device started.

Acer Aspire V3-551G-X419 15.6-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black) Reviews

Customer Ratings:

Most people have covered the important stuff, so I will use this space to cover some misconceptions and add some general thoughts:

Acer is great. If you google online, you will find a lot of hate towards the company. And, I imagine this comes from the fact that they didn't make great PCs 5-10 years ago, so they have a lot of old customers that will speak out against them. Fair enough. But, Acers are great now, yet remain very inexpensive. This laptop is very stylish and very well-built. It's solid. If you are concerned about going Acer, don't be.

-Acer is great with support and driver-support. In the past, I have owned Sony and Lenovo laptops. At some point, something would annoy the hell out of me. Sony "locks down" their operating system in terms of drivers. You want a new graphics card driver? You have to wait until Sony gets it from intel/AMD and re-releases it for your laptop. Often, the graphics card drivers that Sony offers are several YEARS old, which is bad bad news for gaming. The other option is to get hacked drivers, which can cause issues (for example, HDMI never worked on my sony laptop, because I preferred to lose HDMI with a hacked driver rather than use a 3 year old driver). Huge headache. Lenovo has awful support, and the Lenovo laptop I bought had a severe wifi problem, which Lenovo ignored and hid for several years, while still selling the laptop. This Acer laptop? As soon as it came in the mail, I updated ALL of my drivers FROM THE MANUFACTURER. I installed AMD catalyst installer, which automatically updated graphics/cpu/HDMI/USB/etc drivers to the latest version, and Acer didn't block ANY of it. Acer lets you use your computer how you want to use it, and I love it. This laptop runs a pretty "pure" version of Windows 8, without Acer trying to get in your way. More companies need to follow Acer's ideology on this one. I own this laptop, and Acer treats me as such. Additionally, Acer's support is great. Their driver/software update page for this laptop is well-organized and updated. I noticed there was a bios update for this laptop, which I wasn't sure if I should download due to the inherently sketchy nature of bios upgrades. I contacted Acer's chat support, which was available in seconds. They went through the changelog of the bios update with me, and recommended that I did not install it at this time. Very polite, very quick, very knowledgeable. With Sony/Lenovo, it was always a "let me check that for you" while they left for 10 minutes, coming back with a canned non-answer. And, you have to realize I am comparing a $600 Acer and a $1,800 Sony here, and I'll take the Acer customer support every single time.

-AMD is fine. People are completely right that Intel significantly out-classes AMD in the CPU category. But, that DOES NOT matter in this range. Yes, Intel makes high-end laptop CPUs that AMD cannot even touch. If you are buying a high-end laptop, you need to go with Intel. But, in this range, both Intel and AMD make CPUs with identical benchmarks, and AMD is cheaper. In mid-range gaming laptops, there is no good reason to go with Intel. This AMD A10-4600m is similar to several intel i3/i5s on the ivy bridge architecture, both of which would be significantly more expensive than this AMD. Same exact performance in benchmarks, less expensive. This AMD competes with the Ivy Bridge intel processors (which were the newest Intel processors until very recently), and they have similar power consumption and heat production. So, anyone that says that AMDs "run hotter" or "kill battery" are misinformed and simply spewing out untruths.

I looked for ages, and you will not find a better gaming laptop in this price range. I play Just Cause 2, Civilization 5, Counter Strike: GO, Left 4 Dead 2, and a few other games at ultra/max settings at 40-70 FPS. That is absurd for a $600 laptop. I even tried playing very intensive games like Metro 2033, and it could actually handle ultra (though I bumped it down to medium/high for a better FPS). It is true that this is not a MONSTER of a gaming machine, and you will have trouble running some new games on ultra. But, I have yet to find a game that it can't handle on medium, and it handles MOST games on high or ultra.

That is what I wanted to focus on in this review, as most people have covered the build quality/design/keyboard/etc. Overall, this is the best laptop I have ever owned. It looks nice, everything "just works," there is absolutely nothing you need to do to get this thing running, and it is snappy as hell. That said, Acer had to "cut corners" at some points to get this thing to be $600. In my opinion, they cut all of the right corners, and put the cash where it needed to be to make this the best possible laptop for $600. That said, I will go over some cons to end this review (but, I want to be clear that these are just cons for the curious. They are not huge complaints in my mind, and I love the laptop overall).

-The screen could be better. It's a budget TN panel (which is 100% expected in this price range). As a result, the viewing angle isn't great and you will find yourself adjusting the angle so that games/movies don't look dark. Not a huge issue, but worth noting. The resolution is 1366x786, which is somewhat low for a 15.6" screen (though somewhat standard these days). The trade off is that it can run games better. Like I said, this game can run new games on medium/high/ultra. If it was running these games at a higher resolution, it would likely struggle to play them. So, I am okay with the trade off. Somewhat lower resolution, but significantly better gaming. Additionally, the colors are a bit washed out. I recommend playing with the color settings in AMD's catalyst control center (right click desktop -> Graphics Settings). I upped the color saturation a good bit, and it really brings out the color. This will all be personal preference, though, so I recommend messing around with the saturation/gamma/contrast/brightness to get it where you want it. In my opinion, with standard settings, the screen is pretty lackluster. The physical brightness of the screen is very good. It gets very dark for dark/night situations, yet very very bright for outside/gaming/media usage. If I were to crank up the brightness to the max right now, this white amazon background would probably make my eyes bleed. This is a good thing.

-The keyboard layout is great (full number keys, convenient FN functions), but the overall quality isn't anything to write home about. The keys are somewhat loud, and some of the larger keys have slight issues. For example, the shift key is a large key, but the actual part of the key that is recognized is in the center of the key. I want to be 100% clear that this is not an issue for normal usage. You will never be typing, hit shift, and not have it register. But I have noticed that in gaming, where you might reach down with your pinky, tapping the very edge of the key lightly with a pink provides mixed results.

Again, this is not a common issue or a very large issue, but it is worth noting.

-The layout of the overall computer is somewhat silly. Most of the hot components (CPU/GPU/etc) seem to be positioned on the left side of the computer. This is sort of silly for a gaming PC (apparently the "g" in 551g signals that acer markets this as a gaming PC). As gamers know, you are generally holding your left hand on the WASD keys, and this is where the computer gets hot when gaming intensely. The right side remains completely cool. Seems like they should have done the entire internal layout in the opposite direction so that the left side remains cool. The reason the DIDN'T, I assume, is because the fan blows out of the left side of the computer. If it were turned around, it would blow out of the right side, right onto your mouse hand. If you use your left hand for the mouse, KNOW THAT THIS PC WILL BLOW HEAT RIGHT ONTO YOUR HAND. The ideal solution would be to have the hot components on the right side of the PC, then have the fans blow out of the BACK of the laptop, away from you completely. Not sure why they picked this layout, but it is my biggest gripe with the computer. All of that said, this laptop only gets particularly hot when playing intense games for long periods of time, and even then it's not as if it gets hot enough to burn you or anything. But, it is an annoyance and a complaint with the overall design of the PC.

-The ram and HDD do leave some to be desired, as others have noted. It's a very basic, 5400 RPM hard drive, and 2 GB of the ram aren't as powerful as the other 4. That said, unlike other reviewers, I don't think it is a huge deal. Some reviewers make it sound as if though the hard drive forces this laptop to a slow crawl, which isn't true. This laptop still cold boots in 30 seconds, awakes from sleep almost instantly, and opens apps very faster. Yes, a solid state hard drive will make all of this even FASTER, but it isn't as if it is slow out of the box. It's just not as fast as it could be. And, if you choose to replace the hard drive, Acer was nice enough to leave an extra, empty hard drive bay for a secondary drive. So, you can replace the hard drive, yet keep the stock hard drive as a secondary, 750GB drive. For a budget laptop that had to cut some costs, this is a pretty ideal solution. As for the ram, the standard ram actually is fine for gaming and pretty much everything else. If it really bothers you, though, you can completely replace the ram and install 8GB of top-of-the line ram for $45 or so, so I don't think that should even factor into your decision to buy or pass on this laptop. I am a pretty heavy PC user/gamer, and I am still using the stock ram/HDD. It doesn't really bother me. If it bothers you, it can be remedied very cheaply and conveniently, with the extra HDD bay and convenient location.

That about sums up my overall satisfaction (yet minor complaints) with this laptop. At the end of the day, I completely recommend this laptop for anyone who wants to play PC games but wants to stay under $700. Even if you don't game, the components make overall computing, using programs like photoshop, doing video editing, etc very snappy and smooth. Now, you CAN buy a more powerful laptop for more cash, but that is a decision you have to make for yourself. To buy another laptop that plays games as well as this one, you'll be looking at spending at least $800-900. For a laptop that is MORE powerful than this one, you'll be paying over $1,000. To me, this laptop is at a very acceptable level of power for its price, and I wouldn't shell out another $500 just to play SOME games on ultra rather than high. But, if you are asking yourself, "should I buy this PC?" That is the question you are asking yourself. Because, at this price range, this laptop is a no-brainer.

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I've had this laptop almost a week and I love this computer. Windows 8 was weird at first but I used to it, I stopped all the window tiles from being alive all the time because it bogged down the computer. Windows 8 reminds me alot like Xbox Live because the Windows store is just like it. I've been using this laptop to play The Sims 3 & a few other games and it runs so smoothly, my last Acer laptop always shudders and overheats when playing any game even with all the settings to low. I've been playing the Sims 3 on max settings and I had no problems.

Overall this laptop is great for all you general needs and but I wouldn't buy this laptop for serious gaming like playing Crysis 3.

Best Deals for Acer Aspire V3-551G-X419 15.6-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black)

Pros: Practically Everything... The hardware is superb. Apps load with a snap. Speakers blew my mind for a laptop, my fathers computer has a beats audio setup with woofer in it(yes a woofer) and this still blew it away bass and all. The screen is amazing. The USB 3.0 is Amazing. It runs everygame Ive threw at it in not just high but MAXIMUM graphics (These games include: The Sims 3 with Supernatural Expansion, APB: Reloaded, Need For Speed World, Star Trek Online, Champions Online, Vindictus, Microvolts, RaiderZ, DC Universe, Burnout Paradise, Lego Star Wars III: Clone wars, NBA 2k13, Blacklight Retribution, Rusty Hearts, and tons of console Emulaters), boot up time aint to bad either.

Cons: Oh god dont listen to these microsoft lovin windows 8 fans. The mouse gestures will have you twisted in a minute. I turned them all off and it wasnt to bad. learning how to navigate windows 8 isnt to hard but the OS in general is a pain. This laptop would benefit from a 2x4 GB ram set up for 8 gig total and a 7200 rpm hard drive if you have the patience, but its not to mandatory. Runs HOT when playin games (Laptop fan helps). Havent tried it yet but might be a good Idea to Downgrade to Windows 7.

I been an Acer fan forever, they never let me down. I send in for warrenty repair they fix stuf that I never mentioned like keyboards etc. These products always impress me and dont let anyone tell you they are not durable, I have a Aspire 5732z that has made 2 falls from the kitchen counter, an asphault impact in the driveway with no bag, and bumped off the couch. Yes its taken dings, lost the disk drawer cover, and even broke the screen hing covers but to this day its still a good reliable laptop. If any one asks my opinion, Acer's are the best Decently priced laptops out there.

Honest reviews on Acer Aspire V3-551G-X419 15.6-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black)

Great unit with dual graphics that gives it a massive boost in graphics power. If you're doing anything cloud based, running anything from Adobe, stream a lot of content like Netflix or from YouTube the graphics on this takes everything you can throw at it. The quad core CPU will over clock to 3.2 Ghz with the automatic Turbo Core feature. This is the first Acer I've ever had, and it works very well so far. I heard the Microsoft has an app called, Classic that will allow you to revert the operating system back to Windows 7 if you want. It'll also do Vista, but why? Did I mention it has 2 graphics cards?! Nice laptop!

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It is better than my last acer laptop.

Dual graphics are very awesome.

The A10-4600 is also very good for running.

The price is very comfortable for me.

It is not expensive, but it has a really great equipment.

Review of Lenovo ThinkPad W520 427637U 15.6" LED Notebook - Core i7 i7-2720QM

Customer Ratings:

I bought this machine from Amazon in early April 2011, so I've been using it for nearly 3 months. I'm a software developer.

It is a great machine with a few minor negatives. First the negatives:

1) Even with the docking station (highly recommended) it will drive only two external monitors, for a total of three if you count the internal screen.

I don't consider this a fatal flaw, as I use a Displaylink device to drive a third big monitor

2) You don't get RAID on this model if that matters any more

3) Yes, it could use an SSD drive, but that would add a lot to the price

Positives:

1) Very fast processor. It typically runs all four cores at 3 Ghz and can run a single core at as high as 3.3 Ghz

2) Expandable: I immediately put in 8 more GB of RAM for 16 GB total. Note I had to remove the keyboard to get to one of the extra RAM slots no big deal

It also has an Ultrabay be sure to get the $60 hard disk adapter and I threw in another 500GB 7200RPM drive.

3) It has 2 USB 3 ports, as well as 1 eSATA/USB combo powered port. This means I can boot from an external 2.5 " hard drive via a special cable (sold on Amazon).

4) It has an mSATA slot for an internal WAN modem OR Micro SSD card nice!

5) The screen is high resolution and very bright LED back lit. I can easily see it outdoors

6) Rugged, durable build. Good thermal design runs cool.

7) Three year warranty

There are many more positives, but suffice to say that this is a great, not perfect, but a great machine.

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I recently purchased this laptop as my photo editing portable workstation and would like to share with you some of my opinions even if maybe it's still early since less than 2 weeks passed by.

CPU: very very fast, you can really tell the difference from older PCs, Canon 5D Mark II 21 Mpixel RAW files rendering was almost on the fly.

RAM: 8GB seems enough but there's still plenty of space for expansion up to 32GB which probably I'll do once the prices drop down.

HDD: think this is probably the only bottleneck (or at lest this is what I understand using the Windows index). There's still the possibility to add an SSD.

Nvidia Quadro 1000M 2GB: still have to test it with some 3D applications, Optimus seems to work well under Windows, still have to find a way to use it under Linux though.

Fingerprint reader: really nice, it even allows you to turn on the computer and login automatically swiping your finger just once. (I didn't manage to make it work on Linux yet but maybe there's a workaround)

Camera: seems quite good also in low light situations.

Speakers: they seem quite low, but apparently it should be something related to drivers or internal settings and not physical limitations since on Linux or VLC I can boost up the volume over 100%.

USB ports: nice to have 4 of them, but it would have been nice also to have some of them on the right side since 3 of them are placed on the left and one on the back.

Color Calibrator: I've found out sadly it's not present in this specific model, but it is as an option.

Keyboard: comfortable enough but not as good as the Sony Vaio, weird position for the Fn (swappable with Ctrl key from BIOS) and Del keys.

I'd also like to replace it with the Italian keyboard but I don't know where I should get the replacement part nor the price.

The screen looks AWESOME and it's very good it has 15 levels of brightness so it can be extremely dim for the night or very bright for viewing under sunlight.

I haven't tried the Display Port since I have no device to connect it to at the moment.

Thermal design:it is absolutely the coolest laptop I've ever had.

170W Power adapter: a HUGE and HEAVY brick but it does its job, just wish they could build a smaller one.

The top cover of the screen is covered with a weird material which easily collects dust.

Battery life: still have to test it in a better way since I've been using this PC mostly at home, but when I took it with me out I have to say it surely lasted WAY longer than any other laptop I've ever had even if it is so way much powerful.

Overall I'd really recommend this laptop to anyone looking for a mobile workstation to work with graphic and photo/video editing or in any case for a laptop with a very good processing power and long lasting battery life in a 15.6" form factor.

Best Deals for Lenovo ThinkPad W520 427637U 15.6" LED Notebook - Core i7 i7-2720QM

Not much more to say what the first reviewer hasnt already mentioned.

I used a Macbook Pro until now (which had after < 2 years of use enough bugs for 3 laptops fan out of control, cd/dvd drive broken, etc.), and I dont regret switching to the W520 (I own a W520 for a month now). I am doing a lot of Matlab image processing on my laptop, and the performance as well as screen resolution / quality is great (upon purchase, Lenovo lets you choose between 3 different screens with different maximum resolutions i chose the highest resolution 1920 X 1080; also they let you choose between 2 different gpus). One unique thing to mention is that you have full control over which graphics processor (integrated vs. Nvidia gpu) your laptop uses when, and for which application separately i think this is kind of new and unique.

The only thing that bothered me initially was Lenovo's trackpad, which doesnt come close to the comfort of my Macbook pad. Normal cursor control is ok, but e.g. two-finger scrolling is almost impossible. After my initial disappointment, I got really hooked to using the red lenovo track point. It takes one to two days to get used to it, but once you have the hang of it, it's much more convenient for cursor control, scrolling (instead of 2 finger scrolling, one uses the middle button above the trackpad), etc. than the track pad. So no complaints there. And if you want to do e.g. technical drawing, you may want to use a mouse in any case...

One thing more that took me a bit of patience to figure out was the fact that by default the operating system shuts down and 'unmounts' the physical cd drive when not in use. This is a good feature as it helps saving energy. However, it interferes with the installation and usage of virtual drives (e.g. Daemon tools). Anyway, I figured out that you can easily disable this CD drive auto-shutdown option. So if you have the money stop looking. This is your machine.

Honest reviews on Lenovo ThinkPad W520 427637U 15.6" LED Notebook - Core i7 i7-2720QM

I purchased a W520 after researching quite a few laptops. On paper, this laptop has it all...powerful processor, 4 dimm slots and support for 32gb memory, good discrete graphics options, excellent display, great battery. You name it, this laptop has it.

That said, I believe Lenovo is skimping on parts, QA, or engineering (perhaps all of the above). I have owned this laptop for little over a month and already run into two nasty defects:

First, the speakers on the laptop work intermittently. It turns out the speaker wires are routed directly over the cpu/gpu heatsink and have no heat shrink protecting them. When the proc and gpu are going full tilt, the heatsink melts the coating on the wires and they short-out. Thankfully someone posted excellent info on the matter at . What I find annoying is this problem was first reported in May 2011 and W520s are still being shipped without heat shrink protecting the speaker wires. My laptop was assembled in February 2012. Eight months after the problem was reported, my laptop shipped with a known and easily addressable defect.

Second, my W520 suffers from the 'sudden shutdown syndrome'. This is a problem in which the laptop will shutdown and reboot sporadically once or twice a day...no BSOD or any other diagnostics. It behaves as if someone yanks the power suddenly. This problem was first reported in June 2011 and has gone unresolved since. There are over 100 pages of forum posts dedicated to it on the Lenovo Support forums:

Certainly both of these problems may be addressed by replacement hardware. What irks me is that this is Lenovo's top-of-the-line, flagship laptop, and it seems they don't care if they are shipped with defects. I would be less upset if they put genuine effort into identifying the design flaws, replacing existing flawed parts, *and shipping updated/fixed laptops*. Instead, they are still shipping flawed laptops and are putting minimal effort into isolating the design flaws. Yes, a Lenovo staffer pops onto the forum every now and again and says they are working on it, but it wreaks of minimal PR / damage control. If they were genuinely serious about addressing the defects, they would ship a tested, functioning replacement laptop to those affected, and send all of the faulty laptops directly to engineering for analysis. Instead they have cherry-picked one laptop at a time, and often these have been the laptops that shutdown sporadically once every week or so. My own laptop shuts down once or twice a day. I coordinated with a Lenovo employee, offering to send it directly to their engineering team for diagnosis. I made the offer two weeks ago, have followed-up multiple times, and still they have not taken the laptop. Simply put, they hardly care about addressing the issue.

I know this likely comes down to a business decision on Lenovo's end. If design flaws only affect 1-2% of their shipped laptops, perhaps they feel it isn't worth the effort to diagnose. Personally, I prefer companies that prioritize their customers' satisfaction. For that reason, this will be my last Lenovo purchase. I would advise others to stay away as well.

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I own this laptop for almost a month now. This is fantastic machine and most definitely one of the best investments I have ever made in a computer equipment.

Strengths:

1. Built tough! One of those coveted designs that age gracefully.

2. Amazing hi-resolution bright colorful screen. Your old laptop will feel like it is from the dawn of computer age after using this for an hour. Please see in person before you buy if you have bad vision. The font size is very small at the highest resolution. Also the screen is non-glossy. Actually this is reason #1 why I chose this model. Plus you can view it from virtually any angle without loss of detail.

3. Fast switchable graphics.

4. Fast processor. Takes anything you throw at it without a squeak. Resource hungry programs like Photoshop pop-up just like Notepad.

5. Very very quiet and runs extremely cool, which is surprising considering such a powerful configuration.

6. Long battery life which again is pleasant surprise.

7. Comfortable keyboard, a bit loud but not too much. Maybe too deep for some tastes, especially for those coming from Vaios and Macs.

8. Built in light on top of the screen is more convenient than backlit keyboards. Again matter of preference, but can you read documents with backlit keys?

9. Fingerprint reader actually works like a charm and is quite useful. You can boot the machine into any user account with just swipe of a finger.

10. High fidelity speakers. I saw many complain about low volume, but remember this is a business laptop not a DJ equipment. The sound quality is brilliant when properly configured using SmartAudio. Small advice -do not install McAfee Total protection as your security program (weird connection I know). It will interfere with your streaming content big time, resulting in stuttering sound. I was a subscriber with McAfee but had to switch to Norton just because of that. Funny thing is that Lenovo technician suggested that the stuttering happens because the computer is so much faster than my internet connection (???) and suggested to upgrade my home internet to T3 as the only solution?!

11. Expandable with second hard drive, >32G memory

12. 3 years Lenovo warranty

13. Builds muscle while on the go.. Don't get me wrong, but from the looks of it and the weight this machine has a musculine appeal so no complaints here. It's a workstation, not an iPad.

Weaknesses:

1. Very sensitive CD-rom eject button which I always hit unintentionally.

2. Trackpad is not very sensitive and has rough texture. Gestures such as multi-touch scrolling and zooming are jerky and pain to use. Perhaps it will become better when texture wears off?

3. No HDMI output.

4. Mediocre hard drive (bottleneck WEI 5.9). You can replace with 500G SSD soon as prices drop to a reasonable level

5. Oh and what's up with 56K modem? How many of us travel to Amazon jungle for business? And those who do, can't they buy a card modem separately. I would appreciate some modern appliance instead.

Overall strengths by far outweigh minor weaknesses and that is why I give it without hesitation 5 stars. I would like to congratulate Lenovo on another fine piece of equipment. This is my second Lenovo in a row...Keep up the good work!

---

More observations 11-24-11:

1. Noticed that the system takes up a lot more disk space than justified by installed applications. The "culprit" is Lenovo's Rescue and Recovery. I found out that the backup files (RRbackup*) occupy whopping 80Gb of space on the main drive and it grows fast out of control! If you store your files and programs safely elsewhere you may choose to delete this file to recover some space. The issue is well covered in ThinkPad forums and I take no legal responsibility for this advice:)

2. The multitouch scrolling works much better when your fingers are aligned horizontally on touchpad although still not adequate. Hope Lenovo upgrades the touchpad in the next edition.

3. RAM upgrade is a snap and well worth it. One empty slot is at the bottom and another under keyboard. Removing keyboard may seem overwhelming at first but actually was very easy and safe to do. There are two screws in the memory compartment on the bottom marked with keyboard symbol. Once unscrewed the keyboard slides right out by pressing it down-forward. If done carefully, you don't need to disconnect the cable to install memory.